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INTERVIEW: Ontario’s Sousa Aims to Stay on Path to Balanced Budget

Apr 16, 2013 10:46 am ET

Reuters

By Paul Vieira

Charles Sousa has had his work cut out for him since becoming Ontario’s finance minister two months ago. The minister has the tough task of putting together a 2013 budget that continues the province’s path to a balanced budget while still ensuring that the Liberals, who are governing with a minority mandate, hang onto power in Canada’s largest province.

People are eyeing every move Mr. Sousa takes to tackle Ontario’s massive debt load. Net debt was projected to hit 257.6 billion Canadian dollars ($251.22 billion) as of the end of March, or close to 40% of the province’s gross domestic product, trailing only neighboring Quebec on that metric. Ontario’s net debt-to-GDP measure is expected to peak in fiscal 2015 at 41.2%–which recently prompted one think tank, the right-leaning Fraser Institute, to compare the province to fiscal basket cases such as California and Greece.

Speaking to Canada Real Time, Mr. Sousa says he’s ready to announce a budget date “soon,” and suggests there’s the possibility of a budget deal with the province’s left-leaning New Democratic Party.